Jim Abbott still inspiring long after career over

“It was a naive notion because everywhere we went there was another newspaper article written and another cameraman to talk to. But also what started happening in those stadiums in those cities is that the moms and dads started to come to those games. They would bring little boys and little girls facing challenges I can’t even begin to describe.

“I’d be up in the clubhouse with my teammates, playing cards and listening to music or reading a book and inevitably a clubhouse official would tap me on the back and say, ‘Hey, Jim, there’s a family down by the dugout. They’d like to say hi.’

“I’d take off the headphones and start walking down the corridor. I’ll be honest, I didn’t always want to go, because I knew what was coming in those meetings. It was a reminder of my own differences, of something I was trying to move beyond. ...

“But when I met that little boy or little girl, maybe they had a Little League jersey on, maybe we’d play a game of catch, and I saw how bound and determined they were to do something special, I never walked back into that clubhouse uninspired.”

Abbott was seeking inspiration on Sept. 4, 1993, when he took the mound in New York against the Indians. Just five days earlier he had faced the same team in Cleveland and been hit hard. Now what?

“You know those movies where it’s going 100 miles an hour, and then it stops?” Abbott says. “That’s exactly what happened.

“Carlos Baerga hit a ground ball to shortstop. ... I promise you guys it took a half-hour for that ball to get there.”

The ball was thrown across the infield, Yankees first baseman Don Mattingly caught it and threw his hands in the air.

“It was a no-hitter in Yankee Stadium, and you can’t believe it’s you,” said Abbott. “In that stadium, in that city, in that uniform.”

The story came toward the end of Abbott’s talk. He then took the audience back to speech at his daughter’s preschool class as he concluded.

“Ella raised her hand,” said Abbott. “By this time, I don’t know what’s coming, and she said, ‘Dad, do you like your little hand?'

“That question stopped me in my tracks.

“I’ve always wondered how my kids would look at me in those situations with their friends and their teachers.

“I don’t know where she came up with that. At home we don’t call it my little hand. And in my whole life I’ve never thought a whole lot about liking it.

“I wanted to say something cool. I wanted to have a good answer. And I said, ‘You know what, honey, I do. I like my little hand. I haven’t always liked it. It hasn’t always been easy. But you know what, it’s me. And it’s pushed me and it’s taken me to places I can’t even believe. It’s taught me important lessons. Life’s not easy. It’s not always fair.